Penwortham is a caring and successful school with a strong community spirit, happy children, passionate staff, and a dedicated governing body. Our vision is focused on developing the very best teaching and creating a culture of high expectations and excellence in everything that we do. This culture is underpinned by a set of core values that make Penwortham a harmonious, safe, and inclusive school, where all children can achieve and be successful.
We actively promote our pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development and are committed to improving outcomes relating to feeling safe, being healthy, enjoying learning, and achieving. We also provide opportunities for our pupils to be actively involved in the life of the school, preparing them to be kind and compassionate model citizens.
We are extremely proud of our school and our stunning new year 6 building and sensory garden, which is an inspiring contemporary design, full of light and personal touches - making it spacious and fantastic learning and playing space for our pupils.
Our teachers and support staff have ready access to good quality continuing professional development focused directly on improving pupil outcomes and their personal development. Well-being and a supportive ethos are embedded in all that we do, bringing out the very best in our staff and pupils.
Our Ethos is Penwortham is a dynamic, harmonious, and values-led school. Our values support our children to be happy and self-confident individuals with strong morals and a ‘can-do attitude. Our pupils are encouraged to respect the rights of others, aspire for success, aim for excellence and achieve their full potential.
Our vision is for Penwortham to be an excellent school, where outstanding practice, equality, and well-being are at the heart of all that we do.
We aim to create an exciting, inspiring, and nurturing environment that our pupils want to come to every day. Be uncompromising in our aspirations for our pupils by creating strong foundations for future success. Have a strong reputation for success in the academic curriculum as well as the creative, expressive arts and sport. Be recognized as an outstanding and unique school. Provide a safe environment where our pupils have a voice, high self-esteem, and good mental health. Ensure all pupils are treated fairly and are provided with the opportunities they need to be successful.
Our Values are:
- Respect: We treat each other with respect and kindness by valuing and accepting our differences.
- Nurture: We nurture our pupils’ talents so that they can be the best that they can be.
- Creativity: We create opportunities within the curriculum for our pupils to be original, imaginative, innovative, and creative.
- Collaboration: We support each other in our learning and celebrate and share in one another’s success, by being kind, helpful, and caring.
- Aspiration: We want our pupils to fulfill their potential and be successful in all that they do. ‘If you can dream it, you can do it’ ~ Walt Disney
- Equality: Treat everyone as you would want to be treated and enable everyone to achieve their potential.
- Excellence: Excellence is the standard. High expectations are non-negotiable, so we always try our best.
- Courage: We help our pupils to be honest, confident to take risks, overcome their doubts and fears and not be afraid to make mistakes.
Our values are supported by British values of democracy, tolerance, rule of law, community, respect, and individual liberty.
How schools assess progress and attainment has changed for Key Stages 1 and 2 (KS1 / KS2) as a result of changes that were introduced with a new National Curriculum. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has remained the same.
Before the introduction of this curriculum, schools assessed pupils’ learning using Levels. By the end of the school year, a typical Year 2 pupil would be expected to attain Level 2 and a Year 6 pupil to reach Level 4 (These two-year groups are used as examples because of the SATs tests that all children sit at the end of Years 2 and 6).
A higher-numbered Level would indicate greater achievement. One main aim of the new curriculum has been to place greater importance on deeper learning over rapid progression. This means that a high attaining pupil should not be ‘pushed’ to acquire knowledge and skills from a higher year group. Instead, they will learn how to use and apply their existing learning in broader contexts with open-ended challenges.
